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Turkish MPs fight in parliament during debate on jailed opposition leader

Blood splatters wet the white steps of the lectern.

Istanbul:

A brawl broke out in the Turkish parliament on Friday when an opposition lawmaker was attacked for demanding that his colleague, who is in prison for organizing anti-government protests but has since been elected as a member of parliament, be allowed to enter the assembly.

Video footage shows MPs from the ruling AKP party rushing to beat Ahmet Sik at the lectern, and dozens more joining in a brawl, with some attempting to hold others back. Blood splattered the white steps of the lectern.

Atalay was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2022. He was accused of trying to overthrow the government. Together with the now also imprisoned philanthropist Osman Kavala and six other people, he is said to have organized the nationwide Gezi Park protests in 2013. All deny the allegations.

Despite his imprisonment, Atalay was elected to parliament in May last year as a representative of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP). Parliament stripped him of his seat, but on August 1, the Constitutional Court declared his exclusion null and void.

“It does not surprise us that you call Can Atalay a terrorist, just as you do not call anyone who is not on your side,” Sik said in a speech to AKP MPs.

“But the biggest terrorists are sitting in these seats,” he added.

After the brawl, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament declared the session adjourned. After a break of more than three hours, the session resumed, this time under the chairmanship of the Speaker of Parliament and not his deputy.

In a vote, parliament reprimanded Sik of TIP for his comments against the AKP and AKP leader Alpay Ozalan was also reprimanded for his physical attack on Sik.

The main opposition leader of the CHP called it “shameful”. “MPs have been hitting other MPs, even women. This is unacceptable,” CHP chairman Ozgur Ozel told reporters.

Gulistan Kocyigit, the leader of the pro-Kurdish DEM party, who was also defeated, said the ruling party was trying to silence the opposition with violence.

“It was clear that they had come very well prepared and planned… They are trying to silence our speech and our voice with pressure, violence and coercion,” Kocyigit said.

The TIP also called for Atalay’s release from prison.

Although fights are rare, they are not unusual in the Turkish parliament. In June, AKP MPs clashed with pro-Kurdish DEM party MPs over the arrest and replacement of a DEM party mayor in southeastern Turkey for alleged links to militant groups.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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